**#6 The spin doctors speak: Vodafone Egypt (sort of) says it won’t lay-off call center operators in favour of robots. The mobile network operator told Al Mal yesterday that it won’t actively lay off call-center staff, but suggested technological “progress” will gradually make some jobs obsolete. That will see VFE stop hiring new operators as old ones “willingly leave their jobs,” which happens quite regularly in the customer service field, which has sharp turnover rates. The comments were prompted by a Financial Times interview with Vodafone Group’s income CEO, Nick Read, in which he said that robots will replace some 1,700 “shared service center” operators in Egypt, India and Romania this year.

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